Golf is enjoyed by people of all ages throughout the world. It is played and enjoyed by both athletic types and non-athletic types of people. It is one of the few athletic activities that can be played and enjoyed by people with handicaps, such as a missing limb, a bad back, sight problems, and the like.
Seemingly, the golf swing to drive a ball with a wood or hit a ball with an iron should be the most natural and easiest thing in the world. It should be no more difficult than hitting a baseball with a bat or returning a tennis ball with a tennis racket. However, the golf swing is truly one of the most complicated athletic endeavors. Although it is true that anyone can get up, take a club and swing at the ball, the club head may miss the ball, or the ball may not go far, or it may not go straight, or it may not go anywhere. The golf swing requires the proper posture, the proper placement of the legs with respect to the ball, the proper positioning of the hands on the golf club grip, and proper rotation of the shoulders and the hips during the back swing and the downward power swing. Many of the requirements for the proper golf swing can be easily mastered by most individuals, such as posture, positioning of the feet, and the hand the grip on the golf club grip. However, other aspects of the golf swing are not easily mastered. Even great golfers like Bobby Jones, Sammy Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicholas, and Tiger Woods, can slip from time to time, resulting in poor shots, either in distance and/or direction. Most professional golfers have teachers who observe their swings and to identify their problems and remedy what the problem is with respect to the swing. Frequently the problems with the swing are very small but very significant factors. One of the essential factors in the proper swing is extension of the arms.
For purposes of this patent, the description of the golf swing and the invention will be made with respect to the swing of a right-handed golfer, i.e. a golfer who down swings the club from right to left when facing the ball. The right-handed golfer's forearm is his or her left arm. An arm has four sides: an inner side that faces the trunk, an outer side, a top or ventral side facing the front, and a back or dorsal side facing the back. The directions refer to directions when the arms are at the side of a person with the thumb next to pant-pocket facing forward.
Normally in a golf swing, proper extension of the right arm is not a problem. However, extension of the left arm is frequently a problem. Most golfers, unless they diligently practice, have a tendency not to extend the forearm during the back swing. For these golfers, when they are in the down swing, they fully extend the arm which changes the direction of the face of the club with respect to the ball and causes the ball to hook or slice and inhibits maximum club head velocity which prevents the maximum amount of energy to be transferred from the club head to the ball at impact. Thus both distance the ball goes and the direction the ball goes are affected by not extending the left arm during the back swing. Many golf books and a number of golf teachers always stress to the golfer to straight-arm the left arm on the back swing. This is a reminder to the golfer to extend the arm. Unfortunately, the forearm is not truly straight-armed during the back swing. There is a slight curve or crook at the elbow, but the forearm is extended out to give the greatest amount of energy to the golf swing and to correctly have the face of the golf club hit the ball to drive the ball far and straight. When the golfer attempts to make a full swing with a straight-arm or stiff-arm left arm, it is uncomfortable and the arm which has to rotate during the down swing, does not impart the maximum amount of energy to the ball and frequently alters the direction of the club face. When the face of the club does not properly address the ball at impact, the ball goes in a direction the golfer never intended. For purposes of this patent, to drive the ball means to hit the ball with a wood, an iron, or with a wedge.
Most of the prior art devices are truly elbow stiffener devices that restrain the elbow in a straight-arm condition (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,074,723; 3,900,199; 3,658,345; 5,425,539; 4,070,027; 4,504,054; 5,069,547; 2,468,580).
In order train golfers to maintain the left arm extended, with respect to a right-handed golfer, the training device must be comfortable. When the training device is not comfortable, the device will be quickly discarded because it is uncomfortable to use for practice or a round of golf. Although training devices cannot be used in tournament play, they can be used in a regular golf game assuming the other golfers do not object. The prior art training devices described above are either cylinders or sheet-like structures which are wrapped like a cylinder to go around the arm. Some have a foam pad interior to attempt to make the device more comfortable. Training devices that do not fit the anatomical contour of the arm are inherently uncomfortable.
As mentioned above, during the back swing and especially during the down swing, the forearm, the left arm for a right-handed golfer, slightly rotates. This is a natural result of the skeletal and muscular relationship of the arm. The golfer should not attempt to prevent this rotation and should let the down swing be natural as long as the left arm and the right arm are extended. The cylindrical training devices illustrated in the above-identified patent do not twist as the forearm is rotated. The cylindrical device resists torsionally twisting. Thus a cylindrical training device resists the rotation of the forearm during the down swing which effects swing and effects the way the ball is hit off the club. This is not a natural swing, the cylindrical training device inhibits the national rotation of the forearm.
The arm has an upper arm and lower arm. The lower arm is relatively long, and a training devices that only inhibits movement adjacent the elbow does not have sufficient purchase on the upper arm and the lower arm to minimize bending about the forearm elbow to train the golfer to keep the forearm extended during the back swing.
As mentioned above, one of the factors of a successful golf swing is proper placement of the golfer's hands on the golf club grip. In addition to not extending the forearm during the back swing, some golfers have a tendency to move the thumb of the hand of their forearm during the back swing. The golf club is normally gripped when the club is placed in front of the golfer with the head of the club resting on the ground and the shaft pointing up to the lower chest of the golfer. The golfer places the hands on the grip in the appropriate manner. This grip is not held tightly, but is held firmly enough so that when the golfer performs a back swing and the down swing, the grip does not change on the golf club grip. This assures that the head of the club properly addresses the golf ball at impact when the club has been properly swung and drives the ball straight down the fairway in the direction the golfer desires. For the beginning golfer, it is difficult to realize that a slight shift in the grip can have dramatic effects on the direction of the golf ball. Incorrect gripping of the golf club or changing or moving the grip during the back swing and/or the down swing, can easily make the golf ball hook or slice. Besides raising the score, it is generally embarrassing to the golfer when slices or hooks badly. In addition, a bad slice or hook can also be dangerous to other golfers playing in adjacent fairways. Any homeowner along a fairway of a golf course develops a collection of golf balls and often broken windows and cracks in the sides of house from bad slices and hooks. When the golfer does shift the grip during the back swing or down swing, the golfer normally only alters the position of the thumb on the forearm hand. The other fingers are normally “fixed” to the club grip because they are needed to maintain the golf club in the hands of the golfer. If the golfer does have a habit of flexing the thumb of the forearm hand during the swing, the golfer must be trained to keep the thumb in the original position when he or she took up the grip. It is important to prevent flexure of the thumb to maintain the club in a vertical orientation at the top of the back swing. None of the above prior art devices restrain movement of the thumb during the golf swing.
The object of the present invention is to provide a golf swing training device generally contoured to the shape of the inner arm to fit comfortably on the golfer.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a golf swing training device that keeps the forearm extended. The device is designed to extend the forearm and give the arm a slight angle between the lower arm and the upper arm and about the elbow. The device does not contort the forearm into a straight-arm position.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a golf swing training device that torsionally rotates or twists during the golf swing so that the golfer has a natural feeling to the swing and the forearm is not restrained from rotating during the back swing and down swing.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a golf swing training device that will maintain the arm in the extended position by providing an arm restraint that will minimize further bending of the forearm about the elbow during the back swing and down swing.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a golf swing training device that permits the forearm to be fully extended at the point of impact of the club face with the ball during the down swing.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a golf swing training device that can be snugly fit onto the inner forearm of the golfer to train the golfer to keep the forearm extended during the golf swing.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a thumb restraint that restrains the thumb of the forearm from flexure during the back swing of the golf club to keep the club relatively vertical (front view).